"If only we can wait, the patient arrives at understanding creatively and with immense joy...The principle is that it is the patient and only the patient who has the answers." D. W. Winnicott

Individual Psychotherapy

Much of my practice is devoted to providing individual psychotherapy to adults﻿ of all ages. Many people seek psychotherapy because acute or chronic stress has overwhelmed their usual capacity to cope. All too often, our distress can have profound effects on those close to us and may impact on important areas of our lives including education or work.You may feel stuck repeating difficult and painful experiences in your relationships or blocked from fulfilling your true potential to love and work. In almost 30 years of practice I have helped people suffering from anxiety, depression, relationship problems, trauma, and cycles of self-defeating behavior. My approach focuses on listening sensitively for those unconscious patterns that may be preventing you from living a full and creative life. I believe that the therapeutic relationship is collaborative: we work together in a mutual effort to find meaning and make sense of your experience. I offer feedback, make observations, and gently challenge long-standing assumptions you may have or ways in which you might be stuck. I hope to encourage your curiosity about your inner world and how you "tick." By understanding your own story and exploring the ways in which you limit yourself, you can change the way you see yourself and the world. You can make informed choices about the way you conduct your present and future life. My role is to help you facilitate your own process of self-discovery, so that you can continue your life journey in a way that is uniquely right for you.

Psychoanalysis is the treatment of choice for anyone who wants to make profound and enduring changes in their inner world and their ability to understand and relate to others. It is a method that goes to the root of unconscious patterns that have been established in early relationships through the window of the relationship between the patient and the analyst. Recognizing how the past influences your behavior in the present can give you new ways of relating in the world and freedom of choice in your life. Not only can you experience symptom relief, but also through this reflective process, you can find a fuller and more vital sense of self and further your creative potential.

Psychoanalysis suits those people who are motivated to understand undiscovered aspects of themselves. It is a concentrated process with sessions usually occurring three to five times per week. This allows for continuity of experience and a building of trust in the analytic setting, within which you can feel secure enough to explore your internal world. As you may imagine from popular images of psychoanalysis, many people lie down on a couch at some point in their analysis. However, psychoanalysis has evolved tremendously from its Freudian roots, and contemporary psychoanalysts are concerned to understand others "relationally." This means thinking about the way two people interact in the space they create together. It is a thoughtful, curious, and collaborative approach in which sitting up, for example, can be as important a part of the process as lying down. Enabling you to explore and discover what is uniquely right for you--both inside yourself and in the outside world--is central to my open, flexible, and independent therapeutic technique. While the psychoanalytic process is more intensive than that of psychotherapy, the psychoanalytic approach informs all my therapeutic practice.

Providing clinical supervision and consultation is a special interest of mine and I have supervised psychotherapists, counsellors, social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists at every stage of their careers from trainees to seasoned professionals in the UK, the US and China. The process of thinking together about challenging cases is fascinating and rewarding. I welcome working with practitioners from diverse theoretical backgrounds. Whatever your theoretical orientation, I believe that it is the essential humanity of the therapeutic process that helps people think that change might be possible. Supervision is available on a weekly, fortnightly, and monthly basis, individually and for small groups. Single consultations are also available for cases which may be temporarily presenting a difficulty. Study groups can be arranged for clinicians wishing to meet regularly for continuing professional development. Supervision, consultation and study groups can be conducted via videoconference when necessary.